ABSTRACT
Chris Rojek summarizes a consensus among analysts of celebrity culture when he maintains that “[c]elebrity must be understood as a modern phenomenon, a phenomenon of mass-circulation newspapers, television, radio and film” (2001: 16),3 as well as the internet. If unremitting multi-media attention constitutes both the primary requisite for celebrity construction and the cardinal earmark of celebrity status (Rojek 2001: 13), then Vladimir Putin indisputably reigns as post-Soviet Russia’s premier celebrity (see Chapter 1). Tirelessly featured on television, on internet blogs, in newspapers, magazines, and a formidable array of cultural genres, Putin’s perceived persona of a strong, disciplined leader who restored both national pride and the country’s economy (touted as his achievement though enabled by petrodollars) won unprecedented popular support at home while sparking a revival of Cold War suspicions abroad. The media blitzkrieg also facilitated his metamorphosis into Russia’s cultural icon or what he himself called “a brand” (Putinki 2004: 71).
